


Braid in Knots

by LittleBlueArtist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bday fic, Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, shiro can braid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9246860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBlueArtist/pseuds/LittleBlueArtist
Summary: Time and time again, Shiro wonders if he still counts as a human. It takes someone who isn't to help him find the answer.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday fic for my amazing friend Shannon!!! I love you so much boo. Happy 17th and I hope your day goes fantastic!! [(Shannon's twitter!)](http://www.twitter.com/arcwinds)

Shiro wakes up to the smell of strawberries. He wants to dig deeper into it, bury his nose in something so  _ Earth  _ smelling. He hasn’t smelled anything like it in years. The more he wakes up the more he realizes his hopes have warped the scent before him. Instead of strawberries it is some Altean flower growing within the roots of Allura’s hair. She set it loose before bed, long white locks flowing around the bed. It seems to be alive with the way it lays itself out, a royal sheath protecting its master.

She turns when he leans up, back against the wall, knees tucked gently into his chest. He feels lost, then. Lost in the never-ending galaxies of space. Is he even human anymore? There is something bad pulsing in the technology of his new arm, something that is getting harder to ignore. Is he still human, with the way his fingers can glow? Is he still human, with a scar across his face from space forged metal? Is he still human, with how his hands killed so many in the ring?

“You’re thinking too loud.”

The voice makes him jump. He didn’t think Allura was awake. “Sorry,” is all he can muster. He forgets that she has a strong empathic bond with all of them now, not just the mice. Maybe not as strong as the mice, but Allura always seems to know what they’re thinking. 

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Shiro lets himself smile a bit. She had heard that term from Keith and picked it up easily after that, despite her never seeing a penny. He curls in tighter to himself, something he would never let the others see. He is not small by any means. Shiro is a leader, a man who others rely on. He cannot afford to be seen as small. “Just...thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” she grumbles, turning over so her face is upwards. Allura finds herself following a small crack in the ceiling. She fell asleep in Shiro’s room again. Oops. 

The paladin sighs and leans his head against the wall, looking up at a crack in the ceiling. “I just miss Earth is all. It’s been a long time since I’ve been home.”

For a bitter second Allura thinks,  _ at least you have a home _ , but she refrains from saying it. This is not the time. “They all do. Did you have a family, back on Earth?”

A long pause settles between them. It’s tense and slightly unwelcomed, Shiro’s answer lingering somewhere unknown. “A little sister. She was sick. She was in a coma when I left for the Kerberos mission. I never would have left her if I had known… She probably thinks I’ve forgotten about her.” He doesn’t go one day without thinking about her. Only Keith knows of her existence. Soft nods and calming Shiro down when it becomes too much is all he does to acknowledge it. In his head, he knows that Akemi is probably dead. 

Her battle ate away at her, took away her will to do much anything except sleep. Except one day she slept, and she didn’t wake up. Even though she can breathe without help, the doctors said it was time to let her go. He went on the mission to clear his head for just a bit, to think of the right decision. He never imagined he would lose her forever. She’s probably gone by now, with no one paying her bills or coming to visit. He hates to think that she died believing that he gave up on her, or that she’s even dead at all. He has some sort of hope that she’s still there, in her bed, in her favorite pajamas, dreaming of the days when he would read her stories before bed, when he would protect her from scary things like monsters in closets and thunder from the skies. 

“Her name was Akemi,” he starts, looking into Allura’s deep blue eyes. “We’re five years apart. I don’t even know how much time has passed since we’ve been here, but I can only hope that they haven’t pulled the plug on her yet.”

Allura pretends to know what that means. She doesn’t know a lot of Earth terms yet, but she’s learning. In lieu of an answer, she brings herself closer. She can smell the Altean shampoo Shiro has been using. The way she places her lips on his is soft, slow, a question of  _ Will you be okay? _

The way Shiro kisses back is an answer. He brings his hands to her face, pulls her closer, spells out  _ Someday  _ with his tongue. It’s slow, sweet, comforting. The heat of Allura, somehow hotter than any human, burns on his skin. It’s a welcoming tingle under his fingers. When he pulls away he’s breathing harder, lips just the smallest bit swollen. “How sudden, Princess,” he smiles, hands settling on her waist. Her hair tickles him. It’s so long and beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the woman before him. He runs his fingers through her long locks, playing with it almost absentmindedly. 

Allura hums beneath him, voicing her approval through a quiet little song. Shiro extends his legs so Allura can settle between them. When she does, he gathers her hair and starts to separate it into three even strands. The act of intertwining them is smooth and seamless. He works slowly and methodically, making sure not a strand is out of place. Akemi always preferred her hair short, but there were times when it was long enough for this. When they were little, she would ask for hours for him to braid her hair, and eventually, he always caved.

“You’re very good at that,” Allura smiles, bringing the braid across her shoulder so she can see it. It’s perfectly done, and she ties it off with a band around her wrist.

“Akemi used to ask. I learned, over the years. You should’ve seen her hair the first time I did it. It took hours to brush the knots out.”

The princess laughs before settling down once more, her braided hair hitting the pillow before her head. She reaches her hand up to Shiro’s shoulder, gently pulls him down until he’s forced to lay with her. “Get some more rest, Shiro. We have a long day tomorrow.”

Shiro looks at the crack in the ceiling again as he gets comfortable. It runs down the ceiling, almost to the seam where it and the wall meet, but not quite.”I’ll try, princess.” But he knows he won’t get any more, even as he hears Allura’s breaths even out.

If he can’t get any, he’s glad she’ll get it for him.

He may not be entirely human anymore, may not be entire flesh and bone, but at least he’s got her, and that’s all he can ask for to be whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'll go back and check mistakes later bc im still sick n sleepy. As always, kudos/comments are appreciated!!


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